The coldest cold case: Seattle police officer killed in 1911

Forgotten is the story of William H. Cunliffe, the Seattle police patrolman who was shot and killed in 1911.

Cunliffe

But Tuesday marks the 97th anniversary of his death – the oldest unsolved case of homicide of a Seattle police officer.

Cunliffe, a crack shot who worked as a cowboy before joining the Seattle department, was patrolling First Hill early that Saturday morning of June 17, 1911, after a burglar had hit two homes the nignt before.

Police never learned exactly what led Cunliffe to Summit Avenue and Columbia Street – now part of Swedish Medical Center’s First Hill campus. According to a P-I story at the time, it’s believed he had his revolver drawn on one suspect when another man approached Cunliffe from the left and shot him from 3 feet away.

Cunliffe was killed instantly. The men fled toward Madison Street. Every detective and plain-clothes officer in the department was dispatched to comb the city.

Police thought the fugitives took shelter at a since-demolished boarding house at 1115 Madison St., across from where a McDonald’s stands today. Police arrested two men and two women there and questioned them, but later set them free.

A woman also called police, saying possible suspects had barricaded themselves in a Ninth Avenue apartment. Five officers were sent, but they found no suspects.

Reward totaled $1,250, and the P-I collected $360 to augment his widow’s pension of $33 a month, according to Historylink.org.

But to this day, Cunliffe’s case remains unsolved.

To read the entire 1911 Seattle P-I article about the shooting, download this PDF. (781 kb)

Cunliffe was the Seattle Police Department’s eighth fatality of 57 that have occurred in the line of duty.